Customer Satisfaction, Retention, and Expansion

This is the nineteenth in our series on Starting a BAM Company.

Customers are the core of any business. Business exists to meet customer needs. Your business exists to meet customer needs. And, as long as you do it better, faster, or cheaper than anyone else you will succeed. When you cease to do that you will wither away like so many companies before you. This is true for BAM companies just as it is for all others.

Knowing What Your Customer Needs

If business is about meeting customer needs and solving customer problems, then it is fundamental that we know what those needs and problems are. So, how do we do that?

1. Never assume. Many businesses large and small have failed simply because they presumed to know what customers need or want. I’ve even seen companies tell their customers what they need as if they know better than those who buy their products or services. 
2. Ask good questions. Instead of telling, we should focus on asking. Good questions coming from a humble heart will lead prospects and customers to trust us and to share with us what their real problems and challenges are. We should be constantly asking our customers where it hurts, what they’re dealing with—and then following their answers with, “Tell me more.” You can never know too much about a customer!
3. Listen carefully. Humility also listens. James teaches us to focus on listening: but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak…James 1:19 NASB Put away distractions and put your energy into hearing and understanding what your customer is telling you. Hint: I find it really helpful to take notes. This not only aids my memory but also communicates to my customer that I am seeking to understand.
4. Confirm your understanding. Finally, clarify what you think you heard. You may have gotten it wrong or close but not exact; you may have missed something important. Reflect to them what you heard and let them correct, amplify, or add detail.

Most companies (not just BAM startups) need to be better at listening. Make this a hallmark of your business—we listen to our customers and act on what they tell us.

Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations

Once you learn what the customer needs and expects from you, DO IT!

1. Failing to meet expectations is death. Proverbs says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Loosely translated this means, “When a person doesn’t get what they were expecting they get discouraged, frustrated, and angry. 
2. Meeting expectations is boring. What I mean by this is that when someone gets what they expected they are relatively satisfied but they are not thrilled. For example, if you order a cup of coffee at a local cafe and the barista gives you a cup of coffee how many people do you rush out and tell? None. What’s exciting about getting what you asked for.
3. Exceeding expectations is vital. While a satisfied customer will tell very few if any people about your business, a thrilled customer will actually become an advocate for you, almost like an evangelist. “You won’t believe what this business did for me! Let me tell you…”

Many years ago, customer service expert, Ron Zwemke, codified what he called the “11-0-3 Rule.” It said that unhappy customers tell an average of 11 people about their bad experience with your company. Happy customers tell 0 or no one. Thrilled customers tell 3. You can see where the emphasis needs to be. And in the age of social media, this rule may be restated as the “11,000-0-300 Rule.”

Delivering Added Value

It’s the above and beyond of service that makes the difference, just as we saw above. Happy customers are great but I want ecstatic, elated customers and I get that by doing more than they asked.

1. Practice Lagniappe. In New Orleans (USA) there is a practice that is called lagniappe. It means a “little extra” or a “little gift.” It’s the small cookie on the saucer with your coffee or the follow up phone call after a product is sold or installed. It’s not much but it counts and people remember that extra that you delivered.
2. It doesn’t have to be expensive. The cookie on the saucer costs next to nothing but it makes a huge impact. My wife operates a small bed and breakfast inn. She specializes in the little touches, the little extras and her reviews from guests demonstrate that they love it.

What lagniappe can you bring? I knew a dentist who would take a few minutes at the end of the day to make a quick call to the patients treated just to see how they were doing. It took only 15 minutes or so but patients thought he was the greatest dentist in the world.

Handling Failures

I hate to be negative but you are going to fail. Customers won’t like your bread. Clients will feel you didn’t do what they needed. Products will not work the way they were designed to work. Communications break down. It happens. 

1. Failures happen. The key, while trying to deliver flawless service and perfect products, is to fix the problem or failure well. IBM, the multi-national technological giant built their stellar reputation, not by delivering the best products but by fixing problems better than anyone else. They learned to turn problems into victories.
2. What do you do when they happen? The obvious answer to this question is to fix the problem but there is even more that you can do. Research by British Airways shows that customers expect four things when a failure occurs—
3. Own the problem—in other words don’t act like it didn’t happen or argue with them, don’t pass it off to or blame someone else. Own it.
4. Give a blameless apology—even if it’s not your fault (maybe your vendor didn’t deliver the correct part or missed a key deadline), you can always say, “I’m really sorry this happened…” You aren’t saying that you did something wrong; you are saying that you care.
5. Resolve the issue—fix it the best you can as quickly as you can.
6. Give token restitution—like lagniappe you don’t have to give them a new car or free ticket. Perhaps a free meal or a coupon for a discount on a future purchase. It’s a little gift, a token to make up for what happened.

I believe that handling problems well is the hallmark of a great company. And, it demonstrates Christian humility and concern for our customers and community; indeed, it’s a powerful witness.

Discovering New Needs to Meet

Don’t think of customers as someone who makes a purchase. Think of them as someone that you will serve for many years to come. Over the course of time, a customer may spend a great deal of money with your company; we call this the “Lifetime Value of a Customer.” And, as a BAM company, you get the ultimate benefit of building a long lasting relationship in which you can demonstrate and communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. Success leads to failure. This is a confusing reality. Sometimes, when we really do well and we solve the customer’s problem, they end up fading away and not returning. Why is this? Because their pain is gone, their need is met. So, off they go. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
2. What new problem can you solve? Just because you solved one problem doesn’t mean they don’t have others. It’s true that some businesses have return customers built into their business model; a restaurant, for example, will feed people many times since people get hungry again. Other businesses, though, are not like that. If your company doesn’t seem to keep people buying again and again because their need is met, you simply have to discover new needs and identify new problems that you can solve.

Keeping customers is great. Keeping them coming back again and again is even greater. The work and the opportunity never ends if we have eyes to see new challenges and hearts to solve new problems.

Conclusion

An old saying in customer service is that the customer is always right. But any thinking person knows that’s not true; customers are right sometimes and they are totally wrong sometimes. But, they are always the customer. The way we treat them and keep them buying from us is the secret to long lasting success.

For more information on starting a BAM company, we recommend the course, Business as Mission: The How To Guide on the Third Path Initiative website. Visit https://thirdpathinitiative.com/all-courses.